When Mistakes Happen

When Mistakes Happen

Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

I remember a tour years ago of Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. At Thomas Edison’s laboratory, one of the sites transplanted from the East Coast, the guide showed us where the famous inventor had worked for thousands of hours to develop the incandescent lightbulb.

Finally the moment had come when Edison could present to the world the crystal containing the filament that could be heated by electric current and would in turn produce the light to push aside darkness. As his staff assembled with joyful anticipation, their boss handed the bulb to his assistant, who would attach it to the connecting stand.

Then the delighted, nervous assistant dropped it!

The rest of the staff gasped as they saw the crystal shatter. The assistant clutched his hands to his chest in horror. But Edison merely patted him on the shoulder and ordered the fashioning of another bulb.

When that one was ready, the staff gathered a second time. The embarrassed assistant stood against the wall, far outside the gathering. But Edison glanced around, called him forward, and then handed him the second bulb.

What incredible encouragement that gesture provided for the young man. And what an incredible example Edison’s compassion became for the rest of the staff.

Perhaps we won’t choose inventing as a career, but life will still provide numerous opportunities to hand a “second bulb” to those who dropped it the first time. What if we planned now how we would like to react if a friend spills grape juice on our great-grandmother’s tablecloth or a child impulsively plucks the frosting roses off the cake we’ve decorated for the church bake sale? Those moments will come.

And long after the tablecloth has been repaired and the frosting roses rebuilt, our reaction is what will be remembered. —SANDRA

Lord, I’m sure my reaction to the dropped bulb or the stained tablecloth would not be gracious. Help me to work on this area, please. Give me a gracious heart as well as gracious words. And help me to remember that the best things in life aren’t things—they’re people.

Encouraging and equipping is not the same as pampering and indulging.

—SUSAN HUNT, WOMEN’S MINISTRY CONSULTANT AND AUTHOR